


I Thought You Were Dead

by QueenoftheHobbits



Series: Short Stories and Prompt Prompts [28]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 1940s set, F/M, au in which cap wasn't frozen and bucky didn't 'die', little angsty, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 23:37:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15851754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenoftheHobbits/pseuds/QueenoftheHobbits
Summary: Prompt:  "I thought you were dead."Character: Bucky BarnesWarning: AngstNotes: This is set in a Captain America: The First Avenger AU, so Bucky is alive and Cap isn’t frozen and they get to be happy in the 40s.





	I Thought You Were Dead

You’re wallowing in a pit of misery and self-pity when you hear a knock at your front door. You force yourself up and out of your bed, grabbing your dressing gown as you stumble to the front door. The last time a knock came at your door it was a man from the Army come to give you the worst news of your life. News that you still hadn’t come to terms with in the weeks since. 

You’ve been sleeping poorly, eating poorly, only leaving the house for the absolutely necessary things such as work and food shopping. You know your friends are concerned for you, but you’re not ready to just go back to normal yet. So you wallow. 

You stumble your way to the front door. You’re not sure who you expect to find on the other side, but its certainly not him. You don’t expect to see him there, alive, with a missing left arm and old bruises starting to fade. 

“Hi, doll.”

"I thought you were dead. They told me you were dead." You can’t quite understand that Bucky Barnes is standing in your doorway. They told you he was dead. They told you. He wasn’t supposed to be here. Maybe you were going mad. 

“They were wrong. You’re not mad.” It’s like he knows exactly what you’re thinking and maybe its clear on your face that you don’t quite believe he’s actually right in front of you. Not after believing he was dead for two weeks. 

“I...” You don’t know what to say, you’re just wrapping your head around the prospect of him never having died. So instead you step aside to let him in your home, after all he was your boyfriend. 2 weeks believing he was dead and hoping he wasn’t doesn’t change that fact. 

“I’ll make you some tea, doll.” You sit gingerly on your settee and think. The shock is real and consuming. How could they be so wrong? How could they tell you he died when he clearly didn’t? Lost an arm? Sure, but died?! How did you get that wrong?

He comes back with a cup of tea and you take it gratefully. It soothes some of your frayed nerves and you watch him as he sits across from you while drinking. He looks haggard, but war would do that to you. But he still looked like Bucky, the crinkles by his eyes, the way his hair fell, the breadth of his shoulders. The shock begins to wear off the more tea you drink and you find that spark of happiness starting to kindle in your chest.

He’s alive. The one thing you’d been praying for. The one thing you’d asked for. He wasn’t dead. You had another chance at life with him. He. Wasn’t. Dead. 

You carefully place the mug down on the side table. “You have no idea how much I wanted to believe you weren’t dead. When...they told me...it broke my heart, James.” 

“I’m  _so_  sorry you had to go through that. I never...I didn’t know they’d...”

“I don’t blame you.” You get up and move to sit next to him. You reach to hold his hand between yours. How could you blame him? He wasn’t the one who told you, who was mistaken. “I missed you so much, James.” You press a kiss to his cheek and let your head fall to rest on his shoulder. 

You’ve missed him. Missed his warmth, his voice, his smell, the way he calls you doll, the little things and the big. You’ve missed his presence and having believed you’d never see him again...it means so much to have him back in your apartment. 

“I missed you too.” 


End file.
